Retro Re-release Roundup, week of March 8, 2019

Ya gotta feel just a little for the people at Hamster: they've been openly working for years to bring SNK's loop lever games to the Arcade Archives line, only to arrive just in time to be sandwiched between a better-publicized and more content-packed alternative. Then again, one might consider the version that doesn't come bundled withIkariNES to be the superior option. Choices, choices!

ARCADE ARCHIVES

What's this? SNK's mega-popular top-down run-and-gun action game, developed and published in arcades in1986. Aside from being the origins ofKing of Fighters' Ikari Team, this game is most notable for its use of the "loop lever" rotary joystick which allowed for independent directional inputs for aiming and firing, a feature that Hamster has adapted to several different control options including dual-analog shooting, manual left/right aim rotation and the option to map the shot button to a fixed direction.

Why should I care?You didn't buy theSNK 40th Anniversary Collectionfor Switch and aren't planning on buying theSNK 40th Anniversary Collectionfor PS4 next month, I suppose. Format aside, Ikari Warriors remains the representative loop lever game and this version looks to include the necessary amendments to make it playable on standard controllers, which wasn't and isn't always true of similar re-releases.

Useless fact:The Rambo franchise's impact onIkari Warriorsgoes beyond mere influence — SNK originally had the go-ahead from Sylvester Stallone to release the game as an officially licensed Rambo game but ultimately decided against it once they saw how much excitement their pre-release "eye-kari" game was generating even without the tie-in.

PHYSICAL CARTRIDGE REISSUES

Piko Interactive's steady acquisition of forgotten gaming oddities continues unabated, with this week seeing them offer not one but twelve new cartridges across six different platforms; the line-up contains more than a few "Euro-computer action game a, now on console b!"-type options alongside a few oddities, like a full localization of the unlicensed Taiwanese Mega Drive strategy-RPGFengshen Yingjie Zhuan(orCanon - Legend of the New Godsto me and you), a SNES run for the rare, obscure and very weird Super Famicom brawlerGourmet Sentai Bara Yarouand, perhaps least importantly, the heretofore unreleased N64 version of40 Winks, a PlayStation-exclusive platformer whose sole claim to history is coaxing an inexplicably effusive quote out of the UK's Nintendo Official Magazine — "move over, Mario!" — and then plastering it front-and-center on the PlayStation box art. Aren't you excited to see what all the fuss was about?

I've failed you, dear readers. Mondo's been teasing this one for a hot minute and while I was anticipating a surprise release, it dodged the late-week window that has become typical for limited-run gaming junk and instead went up for sale a day or so ago, with both the standard and red/white splatter variants selling out extremely quickly. Oh well, you can always grab one of the remaining copies ofthe OGSilent Hillvinyl reprintif you're quick on the draw.

DISCOUNTS & DEALS

A handful of legacy Sega releases — the excellent Sega Ages versions ofOutrun, Phantasy Star, Sonic the HedgehogandThunder Force IV, plus the less-than-excellentSega Mega Drive Classicscompilation — are on sale in Europe until tomorrow, perhaps as pennace for the widening gap between the Japanese and international releases of the Sega Ages line.

Square-Enix's massive library of PSN games is on sale in North America, with Europe seemingly limited to aFinal Fantasy-centric sale — minus some of the more conspicuous remasters or soon-to-be-remasters, crucially, but at least that guarantees a deal onFinal Fantasy VIII!

StoryBundle's back with another game-centric collection of books: pay whatever you can afford, give to charity and get a variety of different books from the likes of Unseen64, Boss Fight Books and Game Boy Works, whatever the hell that is.